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ICEHA's Programs
Decentralization of HIV Care into Rural Areas
Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
Program Overview
This program is an international collaboration
between the Centre des Maladies Infectieuses at
the University of Treichville in Abidjan, Côte
d’Ivoire and ICEHA. The program’s aim
is to increase the number of HIV-infected patients
treated, improve their quality of life and family
situations, and protect the not-yet-infected population.
There are more than one million HIV-positive people
in Côte d’Ivoire, yet only slightly
over 4,000 patients are receiving antiretroviral
(ARV) therapy. Although the cost of medication is
a significant factor, other resource constraints
also limit the number of people treated. Currently,
there are only eight centers in the country that
have been accredited to prescribe ARV therapy and
monitor HIV-infected patients. These centers tend
to be in the major cities and have a limited number
of staff. Several other city clinics offer Voluntary
Counseling and Testing (VCT) services and prevention
of Mother-to-Child Transmission (pMTCT) programs,
yet the stigma associated with being HIV-positive
limits the number of women and children benefiting
from these programs and creates very difficult family
circumstances for the women who do decide to participate.
Providing community-based healthcare workers with
the expertise to address the HIV problem effectively
brings disease awareness and “disease-care”
into the communities.
The first phase of this program was completed in
October 2002. It enabled the two top HIV/AIDS experts
in the country to receive in-depth HIV training
in best clinical practices at University of California,
San Francisco and Cornell University in New York.
The next phase consists of decentralization of HIV
care for 20,000 HIV-infected patients, making HIV
treatment and prevention available in the communities
by enabling community workers to provide care and
prevention services. However, due to the current
political unrest, this program is temporarily on
hold.
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